Table of Contents:

Peter Jennings Emphasized Anti-War Voices: Liberal
revisionists now insist the news media meekly went along with the Bush
administration’s so-called “rush to war,” but in the weeks preceding
military action many journalists expressed deep skepticism of the
President’s tough stance against Saddam Hussein. Although all of the
broadcast networks portrayed protesters from the anti-war Left as
respectable and mainstream, ABC’s Peter Jennings was the most supportive
of their message, and he routinely tilted his newscasts in favor of
their complaints.

On his February 7 World News Tonight,
for example, Jennings excitedly reported how “the Iraqis appear to be
making some concessions.” He concluded that night with a slanted
preview of the upcoming week: “The UN weapons inspectors go back to
Baghdad this weekend. They have not been happy with Iraqi cooperation
so far. We’ll see if the Iraqis do any better — and if that means
anything to the Bush administration.”

Exactly one week later, during live coverage
of a debate at the United Nations, Jennings continued to paint the
administration as obstinate and destructive. “I think a lot of people
got the impression this week that maybe the Bush administration doesn’t
mind if the Western alliance as we’ve known it in the post-war period
breaks up,” he remarked to White House correspondent Terry Moran.

Five days later, Jennings was still at it.
“We’re going to begin this evening with the Bush administration and its
allies. It is quite clear in Washington tonight that the
administration is prepared to jeopardize its relations with several of
its oldest and best friends in order to get its way about Iraq,” he
intoned on the February 19 World News Tonight.

Most of the networks offered indulgent
coverage of anti-war marches on February 15 and 16 — CNN even gave the
protesters their own two-hour special, Voices of Dissent.
But only Jennings was still beating the anti-war drums three days
later. While the other anchors had moved on to fresh news, Jennings on
the February 19 World News Tonight, celebrated that while
the “the enormous anti-war demonstrations” have not “changed” President
Bush’s “mind about Saddam Hussein,” they “have certainly given Mr.
Bush’s opponents some sense that they have momentum.”

On February 26, Jennings tried to make the
gimmicky “virtual” march of electric complainers sound impressive:
“Thousands of people opposed to war against Iraq bombarded the Senate
and the White House with phone calls, faxes and e-mails. They called it
a virtual march on the Capitol. Communications were virtually
paralyzed in the Senate for a while. Many congressional phone lines
were jammed for several hours and one Senator reported 18 times more
e-mail than usual.” Protesters did not even have to take the trouble of
flying or driving to an actual demonstration to make it onto ABC’s
airwaves.

But was the protest movement a political
powerhouse? It’s fair to describe a protest of 100,000 strong as
“massive,” but at the same time tens of millions of Americans were
supporting the idea of a war with Iraq. And ABC doesn’t always go out
of its way to celebrate passionate minorities. Harry Browne, the
Libertarian candidate, received more than 384,000 votes in the 2000
presidential campaign, but it’s fair to say ABC never described that
campaign as a political juggernaut.

Dan Rather Panders to Saddam Hussein: While
his coverage of the subsequent war with Iraq was far better than that
of his ABC colleague, Texan Dan Rather seemed interchangeable with
Canadian Peter Jennings on one Wednesday in February.

In retrospect, it’s easy to express relief that Saddam
Hussein was deposed in April and captured in December. On both
occasions, newscasts briefly underlined how Saddam had been the force
behind brutal torture and the filling of mass graves. But on February
26, CBS’s 60 Minutes II devoted an hour to the anchorman's
interview with Saddam, a murderous dictator for whom Rather gave more
respect than he has offered to some elected American leaders.

Many Americans remember Rather yelling at
then-Vice President George H. W. Bush about Iran-Contra on January 25,
1988: “Can you explain how — you were supposed to be the — you are —
you’re an anti-terrorist expert. We — Iran was officially a terrorist
state....Mr. Vice President, the question is, but you, made us
hypocrites in the face of the world!...How could you sign on to such a
policy?”

Not only did CBS submit itself to humiliating
conditions they would never accept from an American politician — being
driven around town for hours on end before the interview, ceding
control to Iraqi translators, Iraqi camera operators, and Iraqi minders
reviewing the tape afterwards. During the interview, Rather politely
referred to the dictator as “Mr. President,” sitting calmly and quietly
as Saddam repeated the absurdity that he had received 100 percent of
the vote in Iraqi “elections.”

Rather also spent several minutes
entertaining Hussein’s gimmick of an international TV debate with
President Bush, as if Saddam gained his office with debating skills. He
prompted Hussein to expound on his propaganda: “What’s the most
important thing you want the American people to understand at this
important juncture of history?” He followed up with questions about the
logistics and who would moderate.

Rather called it “surprising” and “new,” and
CBS plugged it relentlessly. But the tape from August 29, 1990 —
Rather’s last exclusive sit-down with the dictator — quickly revealed
an identical offer from Saddam Hussein to debate George H. W. Bush or
Margaret Thatcher.

Rather dramatically concluded the interview
by expressing concern that “given the sober moment and the danger at
hand, what are the chances this is the last time you and I will see
each other?”

In the end, the interview was a ratings
success, with 17 million Americans tuned in. But CBS wasn’t the only
happy participant. On Fox & Friends February 28,
reporter Greg Palkot relayed: “Last night, Iraqi state television ran
in its entirety that interview that CBS News’s Dan Rather conducted
with the Iraqi president earlier this week. Our contacts in Baghdad
tell us that this is an indication that the regime was very pleased
with how the interview went, and they felt that it effectively got
across the points the government there wanted to get across.”

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